Biocartis team strengthened with joining of the Janssen Idylla™ assay development team

Biocartis Group NV (the ‘Company’ or ‘Biocartis’), an innovative molecular diagnostics company (Euronext Brussels: BCART), today announced that it has established an R&D center in the US to support the execution of its strategy to accelerate test menu expansion on the Idylla™ platform through predominantly Companion Diagnostics (CDx) collaborations and assay content partnerships. The establishment of the R&D center is the result of a transfer of R&D staff members and Idylla™-related assay development assets and tests of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (‘Janssen’)) to Biocartis.

The assay development experts joining from Janssen have in-depth IVD assay development expertise on the Idylla™ platform and successfully developed, amongst other assays, the Idylla™ Respiratory (IFV-RSV) Panel, which received 510(k) clearance by the US FDA in Q3 2017.

As part of the transaction, Biocartis will pursue the anticipated assay development activities as a tenant in the team’s existing and fully equipped laboratory and office facilities, situated in Raritan, New Jersey (US), thereby managing start-up costs.

Herman Verrelst, Chief Executive Officer of Biocartis, commented: “We are very pleased to be establishing this US R&D center, thanks to the support of our longstanding collaborator Janssen. This will help us scale our R&D organization towards the future. Also, the close proximity to many of our pharmaceutical and test content partners in the US will facilitate an efficient execution of existing and new partnerships. The Janssen team has demonstrated to have excellent assay development capabilities on our Idylla™ platform. This will allow all team members, as of day one, to add value on ongoing projects. In addition, another important advantage is that we now have access to a US pool of R&D talent that we can also tap into for future recruitment needs in light of the business growth that we aim to realize.”

As part of the agreement, approx. 10 employees (FTE1) will join Biocartis from the assay development expert team from Janssen. Furthermore, Biocartis’ subsidiary Biocartis US Inc. will lease laboratory and office space from Janssen under a two-year transitional lease and will acquire laboratory equipment and the ownership of the Idylla™ Respiratory (IFV-RSV) Panel will be transferred to Biocartis NV, including the regulatory authorizations. Financial details of the agreement are not disclosed. The partnership with Janssen remains in place.

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